WASHINGTON (June 28, 2007)—Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Bishop Raphael M. Fliss of Superior, Wisconsin, and appointed Father Peter F. Christensen, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as his successor.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement.

Raphael Michael Fliss was born in Milwaukee, October 25, 1930. He studied at the Catholic University of America, where he earned a licentiate in theology, and at the Lateran University in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in 1965.

Ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on May 26, 1956, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Superior on November 6, 1979, and ordained on December 20, 1979. Bishop Fliss became Bishop of Superior on June 27, 1985.

Peter F. Christensen was born December 24, 1952, in Pasadena, CA. He studied at the College of the Redwoods, Eureka, CA, at the University of Montana in Missoula, at St. John Vianney Seminary, St. Thomas College, in St. Paul, and at St. Paul Seminary.

Bishop-designate Christensen was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on May 25, 1985.

He was Associate Pastor, St. Olaf, Minneapolis, 1985-1989; Spiritual Director/Counselor, St. John Vianney Seminary, 1989-1992; and Rector, St. John Vianney Seminary, 1992-1999. He was appointed Pastor, Nativity of Our Lord, St. Paul, in 1999.

The Diocese of Superior was established in 1905. It has a Catholic population of about 82,000 in a total population of approximately 443,000.

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